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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
Some
A drowning and associated investigation; some violence in a social realism context
Language
Barely any
Mild language in translation
Sexual Content
Barely any
No significant sexual content
Substance Use
Some
Alcohol abuse among the homeless community is a recurring element
Emotional Intensity
Some
The loneliness of the forgotten dead and Erlendur's growing obsession carry the novel's psychological weight
What this book is about
Set in 1974, before the events of the main Erlendur series, a young patrol officer named Erlendur becomes obsessed with the death of a homeless man found drowned in a ditch. No one seems to care. This prequel novel traces the roots of Erlendur's defining characteristic — his refusal to let the forgotten stay forgotten — in the Iceland of the 1970s: modernising rapidly, wrestling with its own darkness.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Alcoholism and social marginalisation
Prequel: younger protagonist
Reader Verification
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